Every coach/manager appointment is a gamble

Maybe except Warnock.

Interesting reading various opinions on Stendel, kaleidoscope of opinions on football generally, what perceived style we each prefer and so on. All valid as the other.

I wonder if Ostersund FK supporters instantly wrote off Graham Potter as an unknown foreign option, someone who had no knowledge of the Swedish lower leagues, or Scunthorpe fans thought appointing their physio (admittedly a former pro goalkeeper) was the cheap option before he got them into the Championship. Or Mark Warburton who never played league football before giving Brentford success? David Wagner mentioned in another thread.

Bigger name appointments don't always succeed, especially without ready money and sometimes when they do spend cash. Sunderland, Villa, Birmingham?

My point is that there'll always be ways to look at any signing or appointment in either glass half full or half empty fashion. For what it's worth I think this is a good gamble, more based on gut feeling if I'm honest. He needs time, at least three or even four transfer windows perhaps. One observation I will make about German football in general is that they have a knack of producing good sides with not always what I'd class as stellar players, even at international level. But their players all seem to be able to do the basics consistently well and they have a belief in their young players that stretches to international level too. So in that respect he's a decent fit perhaps.

I think the club are committed to trying to get success by a different route. It's risky but I'm actually excited by seeing them try again.

And the wife was born in Hannover. I'll hang on to what I can!

 

Stendel.

 

Couldn't edit it quickly enough!

 

Sorry. It seems he's the new Hourihane, or going further back, Ridsdale, in terms of people's apparent inability to spell his name. I'm ever the pedant.

 

He will only get 3 or 4 transfer windows if he is winning games and doing well, football is so fickle.
I'm sure Jose would argue that he would have done a good job given 3 or 4 transfer windows.

 

Fair point that.

 

I managed to edit the "wife born in Hangover" before it was spotted however!

 

No, I'd seen that. Just thought it was a clever play on words.

 

Good post. The biggest surprise to me is how he's popped up on the radar, as there's very little info on him but the more I've read about him the more comfortable I'm getting with his potential. It's another bold appointment, for sure, as it's essentially another left-field choice from (seemingly) nowhere. If it fails, following the Morais debacle, then that will surely be terminal for Ganaye as CEO so, given that, it's a gutsy move to make.

My biggest concern was that he'd been out of work since March last year, but one of the articles posted yesterday showed that he'd been using the time building his coaching knowledge via additional courses and intern spells at other clubs, including Arsenal. This is very re-assuring as it explains the gap and suggests that he's someone who's keen to develop himself.

If you look at his coaching CV, his experience at Hannover 96 is very reminiscent of Hecky's background pre-appointment so it's not that great a concern to me. More importantly, he had success in his role there and his sacking looks very harsh, but explainable via the new Director of Football wanting his own man in place.

I also like the fact he was a striker in his playing career, and appears to like a positive style of football. I think that will potentially appeal to fans when seen in action. He's also willing to develop young talent, as he used his early games at Hannover (when they were already doomed to relegation) to play some of the younger players, so you can see how that approach would appeal to us during the interview process.

Given what's happened with Morais, I can easily see why fans would have concerns at an unknown coming in. I suspect the Board feel that there's better value available in an overseas appointment like this than in the equivalent UK market as I doubt that salaries are quite as inflated overseas. This would also fit in with the modus operandi of what we're attempting to achieve. It isn't necessarily a 'cheap' approach, but more of an attempt to get maximum value from the investment.

Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but I feel no reason to feel negative about it right now. The names I wanted were clearly never available for the role (e.g. McCarthy) and I was pretty ambivalent on all the other options being mentioned outside of these. Let's welcome him into the role and see what he can achieve for us. At least he has the benefit of a full pre-season too, which is important.

 

Good post
Pretty much agree with you on his appointment etc .
We have to get on board and start as we mean to go on as far as supporting managers/coaches or well start catching Leeds up on inflicting casualties without really letting them make a mark on how they wanted to run the playing staff , Hecky didnt even have a chance of bringing anyone in .
This coach is now the Owners choice we need to support him and the players and not judge game by game but full on support .